Cork City Council is strongly supportive of the proposed reopening of the Cork-Midleton rail line as it would facilitate the development of the entire Cork City docklands area, a senior council planner told an oral hearing into the proposed rail line reopening yesterday.
Ann Bogan, a senior planner with the council, said reopening the Cork-Midleton rail line was in line with the key objectives of the Cork Area Strategic Plan and Cork City Development Plan (2004) and would help develop Cork as a gateway city.
Without improvements to public transport in Cork, including the Cork-Midleton line, traffic volumes would double in the city over the next 20 years, while travel times to work would be increased by up to five times, Ms Bogan said.
Earlier, the oral hearing under the auspices of the Railway Public Order Inquiry Office heard residents from the Lower Glanmire Road express strong opposition to a proposal from Iarnród Éireann to build a new €10 million flyover bridge to access their homes.
Iarnród Éireann is proposing the flyover bridge to access Myrtle Hill Terrace and Bellevue Villas.
But residents of both areas insisted that existing level crossings would be adequate to allow them cross the track.
Geraldine O'Neill, of Myrtle Hill, said Iarnród Éireann seemed confused over their plans because while they initially said the new bridge was necessary, they suggested to residents just two weeks ago that they would automate the existing level crossing as an alternative.
Solicitor for Myrtle Hill residents, Dominic Creedon, pointed out that the houses existed some 30 years before the rail line was laid down in the 1860s and that the right of access to the houses was not a private right but a statutory right which could not be extinguished.
Residents also strongly condemned the visual impact of the proposed flyover bridge.